Deormund borrowed long tables from the abbey refectory to have them laid out in the middle of the campsite outside the nunnery gates. In this way, he transformed the spartan place of linen tents, sweat and toil into a place of laughter and entertainment. Torches were lashed to poles and gave sputtering light as the day dimmed while the first stars glimmered in the black sky. Asculf, his special guest, worked the spit, sending dripping fat hissing into the fire, roasting the venison meal Deormund had promised. His father had slaughtered a deer and prepared and delivered it for the skewer.
Cyneflaed, having left little Asculf at home with Bebbe, organised a bevy of island women paid by her husband to act as servants for the evening. It suited his plan that their husbands came to the feast,
